Tahiti & Huahine Islands

The Poetics of Water Media Painting

Watercolor & Fluid Acrylic Painting Techniques

Tahiti and Huahine Islands

with artist Carol Duchamp

Watercolor and Fluid Acrylic

Dates: Dec 20-30, 2012
Workshop Fee: $4895 (includes International and Inter-Island flights)

Class includes:
- Workshop orientation, 18 hours of painting instruction including demonstration and discussion, one-on-one feedback and art party.

Inclusive in Workshop Fee:

- 9 nights luxury accommodations based on double occupancy (2 nights Manava Suites Tahiti/7 nights Te Tiare Beach Resort)
- All breakfasts (continental & American buffet) and dinners at Te Tiare Beach Resort
- Polynesian dance festivities and Christmas Eve buffet
- Excursion to Gauguin Museum and Musée de Tahiti et des Isles (Tahiti Circle Island)
- Motorized outrigger canoe excursion and motu picnic on Huahine
- Bi-lingual leadership; transfers (including Huahine water-taxi service); hotel & departure taxes; planning & operational costs and airfare.

- International Airfare on Air Tahiti Nui from Los Angeles and Inter-Island flights on Air Tahiti between Tahiti and Huahine Islands is included.

Itinerary
The Polynesian Islands of Tahiti and Huahine are enchantment itself. Volcanic peaks rise above lush and rugged valleys; tropical fruit and flowers grow in abundance. White sand beaches, blue-green lagoons and exquisite sunsets add to our palette of colors. We journey to these islands to explore the beauty of the tropics and the watercolor phenomenon. Our painting odyssey begins on the island of Tahiti, a majestic setting for tropical flora and colorful varieties of hybrid hibiscus. On Tahiti we visit the extensive Botanical Garden and the adjacent Gauguin Museum. We take 'le truck' into town and browse the Papeete flower and black pearl markets. Enjoy a fresh fish grill at the port in downtown Papeete as the Polynesians do.

Often called the garden isle, Huahine is home to fascinating archaeological sites and retains the best of old Polynesia. Enjoy the slower pace of island life, gardens full of exotic blooms, luxury Tahitian style bungalows and a journey back in time! Everywhere we immerse ourselves in floral scents that permeate the air as we paint gardenia, hibiscus, ginger, swaying coconut palms, turquoise lagoons and lush tropical foliage. Enjoy all the pleasures of island life - swim, snorkel, paddle outrigger canoes and kayaks and relax in this little bit of paradise. Superb snorkeling and white sand beach just steps from your bungalow. Day 1, Depart Los Angeles or JFK on Air Tahiti Nui, arrive Tahiti and transfer to Manava Suites; Day 2, Tahiti (cultural sightseeing/market, marae, fern grotto, botanical garden, Gauguin Museum); Day 3-9, Huahine (painting classes/swimming, snorkeling, kayak, outrigger canoes, motu picnic, pearl farm); Day 10, late afternoon flight from Huahine to Tahiti to connect with evening flight to LAX; Day 10 Arrrive Los Angeles in the morning.

Classes
This watermedia painting class is ideal for beginner to professional levels of skill. Whether your work moves in a realistic or abstract direction, class methods for evoking the transparent magic of watercolor will be appreciated. Using a full range of wet-into-wet watercolor and fluid acrylic painting techniques, we will explore the dialogue between artist, water and pigment.

Class demonstration and discussion will include wetting the paper, color flooding and gradation, brushwork, atmospheric effects, compositional energy, edge tinting, textural elegance and the use of watercolor crayon and acrylic ink. Innovative methods will build self-confidence and maximize the spontaneity inherent in all forms of watercolor painting. From the moment we wet our paper to the final sweep of form and color, we will attempt to evoke the presence of each artist in his or her work, discovering the personal palette of colors, shapes and subject matter unique to each of us. Discover the poetic nature of watercolor or fluid acrylic while painting the exotic flowers, swaying palms and turquoise lagoons of French Polynesia. All levels of skill are welcome. Friends, spouses and family members of workshop participants receive a cost discount of $150 each.

Instructor
CAROL DUCHAMP, BA, Otterbein College, Ohio, M.A., University of Strasbourg, France, has been leading outdoor painting classes in the U.S. and abroad for 20 years. Her teaching style encourages experimentation and self-discovery in a supportive environment that nourishes the intuitive power of self-expression. Her watercolors are rich in color, lushly saturated and sensual in form and have been described as 'cosmic, flowing and full of light." She has been showing her watercolors in and around the San Francisco Bay area for more than 10 years at Commonweal, the Bolinas Museum and Café Trieste among other locations. Carol currently teaches water media classes at her studio in West Marin and Mixed Media classes at College of Marin. She has taught and led numerous workshops to Tahiti and her islands. You may view selections of her paintings on the Duchamp painting gallery page of this website.

To enroll in the Island Water Media Tahiti & Huahine class, simply mail a deposit check made payable to Art Trek in the amount of $1200 to the address below with a note containing class name/date, your address, phone number, email and skill level or a printed copy of the reservation form that appears under reservations on this website. Questions? Call 415 868 9558. Mail to Carol Duchamp, Art Trek, P.O. Box 1103, Bolinas, CA 94924. Email carol@arttreks.com. You will receive a confirmation packet and detailed pre-departure information.

Susan Bridges-Smith is an art teacher from South Carolina who paints primarily in oils. She had little experience with watercolor and no experience with wet-into-wet watercolor techniques when she joined our August 9-19, 2007 Island Watercolor Class to Tahiti & Huahine Islands in French Polynesia. The following photos reflect the amazing progress she made with watercolor.

"Carol, Thank you for a fabulous painting trip to Huahine. Painting in such an exotic, remote place is truly a vacation that I can get used to. Traveling to Tuscany and then to French Polynesia with Art Trek is an upscale and inspiring experience. I would recomment Art Trek to any artist without hesitation. Thank you for the valuable instructions, memories, techniques and friendships." Susan (August 2007 Island Watercolor, Tahiti & Huahine Islands, French Polynesia)